Sports Writer

It has emerged that Heath Shaw, after a sickening mid-match collision 13 days ago, suffered minor brain bleeding that will sideline the Greater Western Sydney leader for at least five weeks.

Shaw was knocked unconscious, concussed, and spent a night in hospital under observation after clashing with Sydney’s Kurt Tippett in a marking contest on June 28.

Scans revealed bleeding in his brain - an after-effect Shaw and his family have been aware of for some time, but that the club had kept in-house before Giants coach Leon Cameron revealed the significance of the 28-year-old’s injury when discussing team selection on Thursday.

Cameron said Shaw, who has not played since the incident and only resumed light jogging in the last day after previously needing to keep his blood pressure as stable as possible, had been diagnosed with a “very minor bleed to the brain”.

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Since the incident, which was not malicious but simply bad luck after Shaw attacked a contest with staggering courage, the former Collingwood player has visited two head trauma specialists - in Sydney and Melbourne.

He failed a concussion test last week and further brain scans have revealed that the bleeding issue has not resolved entirely. While Shaw has resumed driving, he will not travel to Perth to support his teammates taking on Fremantle this weekend.

According to Cameron, the earliest Shaw would return to the senior side is August 2. If that is his first game back, it will mark five weeks since he was taken from the field on a stretcher and sent to hospital in an ambulance. After upcoming meetings with Fremantle and Geelong, the Giants have a bye.

While brain bleeding is considered a rarity in the AFL, sports physician Dr Peter Brukner told Fairfax Media clubs might previously have opted to keep such troubling detail confidential, or scans might not even have detected any bleeding.

Dr Brukner said he expected Shaw would have been told he should not watch television, text message, or play video games while his brain recovered after he was released from hospital. Stimulating the brain in these ways can prolong rehabilitation.

“It’s the equivalent of a severe concussion,” Dr Brukner said.

“It’s treated in a similar way, in that you have to wait for the resolution of all symptoms. And when those symptoms are completely resolved, and there’s a scan that shows there’s no sign of any effects of the bleeding, then the player will be able to resume exercise and then gradually build up to training and contact training again.

“It’s very hard to predict how long those symptoms last. As we know, it can be a few days or a few weeks. When you have a bleed, it’s more likely to be longer than shorter.”

Said to be presenting as his usual perky self, Shaw has travelled to Melbourne in recent days to get a second expert opinion on his condition. His uncle, Collingwood premiership captain Tony, said the question was when the Giants’ vice-captain would return this season, not if.

“It’s nothing life-threatening and it’s not career-threatening. It’s nothing that will stop him playing football in the future, but it’s something that has got to be watched,” said Shaw, who was involved in the broadcast of the match that featured his nephew’s heavy knock.

Shaw is in the first year of a five-season contract with the Giants.

Cameron said: "Heath's welfare comes first and we have to be really, really careful with how he's progressing. The players' welfare is so much more important than playing a game.”